I
ICANN Content
Guest
25 March – 30 May 2027
Fifth annual UA Day to be celebrated between 25 March and 30 May 2027, with numerous local, national, and regional events and an emphasis on UA adoption
Join the global Internet community in building a truly multilingual #Internet4All
First introduced in 2023, Universal Acceptance (UA) Day is an opportunity to mobilize communities and organizations locally, nationally, and regionally to champion awareness and adoption of UA. UA is a technical best practice that ensures all valid domain names and email addresses, regardless of language, script or character length, can be equally used by all Internet-enabled applications, devices, and systems. UA Day 2027 events will consist of a mix of in-person, virtual, and hybrid events held by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), global partners, as well as regional and national organizations.
Following a Cooperation Agreement, ICANN and UNESCO have been collaborating on UA Day since 2025, to promote Internet inclusivity and multilingualism worldwide, and recently launched the UA policy brief, "Advancing Universal Acceptance of All Domain Names and Email Addresses for a Multilingual Internet." The policy brief proposes a set of recommended actions for the different stakeholders. This collaboration reinforces UNESCO's commitment to foster an inclusive and multilingual digital world, building on UNESCO's 2003 Recommendation concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace, and the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (IDIL 2022–2032).
Discover more about the past UA Day events on this page.
How to Organize a UA Day Event
Organize a UA Day event to promote UA awareness or adoption. An event should focus on one of the following types:
UA Academic Curricula: Conduct curricular development sessions with faculty members and experts to discuss a roadmap and methodology to integrate Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) and UA-related topics in existing technical curricula. Academic institutions are encouraged to collaborate with relevant country code top-level domain managers (ccTLDs) for such events.
UA Adoption and Demonstration: Conduct a UA adoption exercise in accordance with the Specific Requirements for UA Adoption and Demonstration Events, and share challenges and solutions to become UA-ready during the UA Day event. ICANN will offer limited technical guidance to the shortlisted organizations to meet the UA adoption requirements. Recording of online training to achieve the requirements is available here.
UA Regional Strategy Review: Document the strategy developed through the previous UA Day strategy event, follow up with relevant stakeholders on progress, present the results, and discuss appropriate mechanisms to further promote and adopt UA in the region. Organizers should update the regional strategy document accordingly.
UA Awareness: Present the benefits of being UA-ready, basic technical concepts related to UA, and next steps to become UA-ready, based on UNESCO-ICANN policy brief on Universal Acceptance" Advancing Universal Acceptance of all domain names and email addresses for a multilingual Internet" and the suggested measurement. There is no funding available for UA awareness events.
Events can be held at either the local or national level (largely focusing on a community within a country), or the regional level (involving multiple regional and national organizations from multiple countries in a region). Event organizers are encouraged to collaborate with relevant stakeholders for the event organization, including, but not limited to, government organizations, academia, ccTLD managers, domain name registries and registrars, hosting providers, software developers, email service providers and system administrators.
For more details on UA Day event formats, including links to relevant materials, see the section on Event Support below.
UA Day 2027 Timeline
Call for proposals: 8 October 2026
Deadline for submitting UA Day proposals: 20 November 2026 at the UA Day Event Proposal Form
Announcement of shortlisted UA Day events: 23 December 2026
Deadline for UA adoption qualification review: 28 February 2027
UA Day events: 25 March – 30 May 2027
Submission of final UA Day report and UA-readiness assessment: Within fifteen days of the UA Day event, organizers must submit UA-Day report that includes details of the event, its outcome, relevant visuals, and a provisional UA-readiness assessment, using the indicators proposed in the UNESCO-ICANN policy brief on Universal Acceptance" Advancing Universal Acceptance of all domain names and email addresses for a multilingual Internet." The assessment can help organizations and stakeholders identify their current level of UA-readiness, highlight areas for improvement, and establish priorities for further UA adoption. The proposed indicators and measurements will be provided in the annex to the UA Day report form.
Where to Submit Your Proposal
Those interested in organizing a UA Day event must submit an event proposal through the UA Day Event Proposal Form by 20 November 2026.
Stay Informed
A full calendar of UA Day 2027 events will be published in the coming months at this web page, which can also be accessed through the link https://universalacceptance.day.
Event Support
ICANN may provide limited support for UA Day events.
Resources provided:
- Presentations for UA awareness, academic curricula, as well as adoption and demonstration sessions (will be available to download in February 2027)
- Limited funding per guidelines below (upon request and subject to availability)
- UA speakers or trainers (upon request and subject to availability)
| Category | Duration of Event | Materials (available soon) | Available Funding (Per Event) |
|---|---|---|---|
Local or national ** | UA Day Awareness Event |
| N/A |
Local or national (only for universities or educational institutions) | Half-Day UA Day Academic Curricula Event |
| USD 1000/- |
Local or national | One-Day UA Day Adoption and Demonstration Event |
| USD 2500/- |
Regional (Not more than one per region; To qualify as a Regional Strategy Review Event, the event must include speakers and participants from at least three countries) | Half-Day UA Day Strategy Review Event |
| USD 3000/- |
** Applicants who have previously organized a UA Day Awareness event are encouraged to apply for UA Academic Curriculum or UA Adoption and Demonstration events.
Note: ICANN must comply with applicable laws and regulations when providing financial support to third parties.
UA Day Archive
- UA Day 2026: Report | Events | Call for Proposals | Flickr
- UA Day 2025: Report | Events | Call for Proposals | Flickr
- UA Day 2024: Report | Events | Call for Proposals | Flickr
- UA Day 2023: Report | Events | Call for Proposals | Flickr
Continue reading...
